AngelinaGianna Maffeo

Possums are the danger at my place. Nothing like opening the door and finding your fave giant cochin hen gutted and beheaded. My rooster had been killed two weeks before. Now I have a pair of geese who patrol the yard. The other night I saw a possum on my security camera coming up the driveway toward the back yard.  By the time I got out the door, down the steps and around the house the possum was coming back down the drive. Gandolf and Galadriel were at the back gate, wings open, raising hell. Cleopatra was sitting on the fence watching the whole scene play out. Pretty sure I head her purr.. "Nicely done" to the geese.

Every time I buy lady bugs this happens... 1000 lady bugs released at dusk into my garden because the white flies have invaded.  3 am - a swarm of white flies are seen exiting my property screaming as the go. 7 am watering - not a white fly to be seen. Maybe 100 lady bugs can be seen on the plants. 8 pm - if I hunt for them I'll find maybe 4 or 5 lady bugs. They are gone never to return. One year this played out in my greenhouse in mid winter... the same thing happened. I have no idea where they go.

On the other hand the praying mantis, hatch every time,  stay all season and I see babies the following spring.

The big glut of Spring color is past here in NC but here are a few photos. The Jasmin is potted on the porch.  In the morning when I open the door to air out the house the fragrance fills the house.  Love when my Peace Lily blooms. When it's open all is calm here. This hydrangea was a tiny sickly thing 5 years ago. Now it blooms all Summer in October.

I only met voles when I moved to NC. I recommend cats and ducks. My cats patrol the gardens hoping for a kill. My first year as a duck owner I found out why I never want to get my fingers too close to their beaks. One morning I found a field mouse dead next to their bowl. It was FLAT. I looked a my Giant Pekin drake and smiled... lovely, they kill mice and snakes!

One of the funniest farm yard arguments here on Dancing Goats Farm,  was when I shook out a sheet of plastic that had been forgotten for a week on the ground. Several baby snakes flew out, I yelled and swore and Daisy snatched one out of the air and started running with the 6" snake hanging out of the sides of her beak. Two of the girls took off after her trying to snatch the snake from her bobbing and weaving across the yard. They made a hell of a racket trying to get her to share. Mean while I'm yelling come back there are two more here in the grass. Thankfully Hans did not follow his hens. He called the other girls over and stood guard as they found and ate the other snakes. People had warned me if I put in a small prefab pond for my ducks, I'd have snakes. That day I learned why I'd never seen one.

I'd mix up a vinegar wash. 3 tablespoons of any vinegar in a gallon of water... okay not balsamic it's too delish to waste! Spray your plants and any moths with it. Most bugs can't make it if you screw with their Ph.

Buy 20 Guineas and let them free. They are crazy little bug eating dinosaurs. The females are the dominant leaders. And they scream like a banshee which often scares off trespassers. I've only ever found one dead. Think it was my drake because it was eating with the hens. It's neck was broken and it was right by the food dish. They do have to be big enough to fly before you set them free. They will stay as long as there is forage. Other wise they go on a walk-about. You should have seen me herding 25 of them up out of a gully and across traffic. I have Venus, out animal officer, on speed dial. She arrived just as I coming  out of the woods. LMAO when I think about it again.

I too love my Paprikas. Ordered several types of seeds this year. For the first time ever I'm having issues with my pepper All my pepper seeds. I grow maybe 10 types of peppers every year. None of my seeds have sprouted this year. Seeds I harvested, purchased seeds from last year and new purchased this year won't sprout. Everything else is coming up fine. It's the strangest thing. In the past I have had pepper plants living in my greenhouse that produced for 3 years. So it's not like I'm new at this. Going to replant the peppers today I'll let you know if the Hungarian Paprikas come up this time.

“My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Aunt Frances”
― Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic

Thank you... now if someone could just explain what "" means :)

Kevin Vernoy wrote:I'm trying to figure out which Bocking strain of comfrey I have. People have been saying that I might have Bocking 4 because their Bocking 14 strain has blue-tinged flowers from time to time and mine do not.  Any ideas?   These are pics of my comfrey:

Try this link it looks like what you have in your photo
http://www.nantahala-farm.com/comfrey-true-officinale-s.shtml